Petrobras plans to up share in Brazil's ethanol market

* State-run firm to account for 15 pct of production

* Increase follows government request

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N)
will expand its role in the production of ethanol,
the energy minister Edison Lobao said onFriday, as the
country tries to keep rising fuel prices at the
pump from worsening inflation.

Lobao said the company should boost its share of ethanol
production to 15 percent of total output in Brazil over the
next four years from the present 5 percent. The country
currently produces 28 billion liters of the biofuel annually.

A spike in ethanol prices earlier this year led authorities
to work on measures to regulate the market of the biofuel, in
an attempt to have more control over production and supplies.

In April, the government lowered the bottom end of a range
in which the mandatory mix of ethanol in gasoline can be
adjusted and determined the National Petroleum Agency to
oversee the industry. The sector said more measures could be
announced soon.

source: reuters